The Washington National Cathedral

Phil and I had were personally invited to attend the Marine Corps (annual) Worship Service to celebrate the Marine Corps birthday at 4 p.m., Nov. 11, at Washington National Cathedral, located in the center of Washington, DC. This moving and inspirational annual celebration offers civilians, service members and their families the chance to pause in prayer and pay tribute to Marines who have given the ultimate sacrifice to God, country and Corps. This ceremony is open to the public each year and limited free parking is available too - which was great.

Ative duty members were all in uniform. This is a picture of our friend's, Admiral Bob Burt and CDR Ray Houk.

We drove up to Virginia first very early on Sunday to stay the night with our dear friends, Navy Captain King & Sue Dietrich. We hadn't seen them since moving from Japan, so we were very excited about spending a little time with them as well. They only live about 45 min from downtown DC, so that was perfect. Uniform for active duty Marines is Dress Blue "B" with ribbons, or Service "A" with ribbons and badges. Other services should wear their equivalent service uniform; civilian dress is business suit.

We had a great time at the service! We saw old friends, heard the Marine Corps Band play with the Cathedrals'Men's and Girl's Choir (absolutely beautiful music), listened to General Connway's comments, and heard an amazing message from the Dean of the Cathedral.

After the wonderful ceremony, we went back to Sue and King's house for a great dinner and fun time of chatting and catching up with one another. We slept and woke up early to the fragrance of breakfast cooking.

Our breakfast was filled with love and conversation - then off we went down the highway back home to North Carlina. We were on the road before 9:00 am!